I t's easy to envision how two mayors in the same town would make good governance difficult under the best of circumstances. And there is no doubt that, in certain municipalities of New York State, we see a certain amount of dysfunction. The reason for this, in some instances, is that New York State municipal law allows for two elected executives at the local level: the town supervisor and the highway superintendent. And while this setup works for the most part — fortunately, the vast majority of the individuals elected to these positions act in good faith — what happens when the two are at odds?

This issue has recently come up in the Towns of Mamakating and Crawford, municipalities in which the respective town boards have encountered certain difficulties working with their highway superintendent.

In Mamakating, Richard Johnson, the current highway superintendent, has been asked repeatedly by the bipartisan town board for a plan to purchase replacement trucks for the highway department. Johnson, on the one hand, is holding firm to what many would characterize as an unrealistic goal (given the state of the economy) to purchase of a fleet of as many as five new trucks costing upwards of $200,000 each. The town board has said that it cannot afford this purchase and that Johnson should instead set his sights on the purchase of several cheaper, used trucks that will see the town through the current fiscal storm. But Johnson, rightly or wrongly, refuses to yield to the board's position and he thus far refused to submit a plan for this purchase. The Mamakating Town Board, therefore, is giving serious consideration to removing this particular line-item from Johnson's budget and initiating itself the purchase of several used trucks.

The problems in Crawford, while nowhere near acute as those in Mamakating, have seen several board members express occasional frustration with Highway Superintendent Steve Russell's management style, which is, some would argue, overly independent, when the dire fiscal times we are currently experiencing would seem to call for a renewed spirit of cooperation.

And it was just a few years ago the Town of Wawarsing faced problems because of a conflict between the town board and the highway department.

Now, there is talk in Mamakating of eliminating the elected position of highway superintendent and replacing it with one appointed by the town supervisor, a move that has already been made by a number of municipalities in New York State. This would, in effect, create a Commissioner of Public Works in Mamakating who would answer directly to the town board. As it stands now, the highway superintendent answers only to the voters every two years. Needless to say, this move by the Town of Mamakating, if it ever gets beyond mere rhetoric, would be drastic and would permanently change the political dynamic in the town.

And it could create its own problems, not the least of which would be the potential for political cronyism and the doling out of sweetheart jobs.

It's easy to see that there are benefits and costs to both propositions. The problems arise when elected officials choose the road of independence, rather than cooperation. As for alternative solutions, it's possible that, like school districts, a legislative body in the form of a highway commission might be a better approach. But, there can be no doubt that, at least in some instances, having two independent elected executives in the same town can upset the delicate and necessary checks and balances on which effective governments depend.